Category: Case Study

Following an extensive and competitive evaluation process Cyber Intelligence Ltd, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, was selected to provide the Dutch National Police with a cyber intelligence system. Part of Elbit Systems’ Intelligence 360 suite of cyber capabilities, the solution to be supplied is designed to provide high-availability and scalability and enable customization with work-flow, legislation and other custom requirements of the Dutch National Police. Haim Delmar, General Manager of Elbit Systems C4I & Cyber, commented, “The Netherlands continues to be an important market for us and we are proud to be in a position to contribute to national security and public safety. I believe that our operational experience and technological edge enable us to offer superior solutions to our customers and partners.”  

Senstar, a world leading provider of perimeter intrusion detection systems and video management solutions, has published a case study detailing how the Senstar LM100 hybrid perimeter intrusion detection and intelligent lighting system is simplifying security for a US electrical utility company. For many years the utility company has integrated its perimeter intrusion detection and lighting systems. Recently the company has begun installing the Senstar LM100 which provides detection and lighting in one product, and saves them over $80,000 per site. The savings are a result of the reduction of electrical requirements, conduit, grounding and associated labor, as well as the removal of certain equipment from project scope that are required for the two-system integration. “The LM100 combines all of the functions the two systems provide and it saves us a lot of money,” said the utility company’s security administrator, “It is also simpler to integrate and has better functionality.” The Senstar LM100’s perimeter LED-based lighting acts as an initial deterrent. If an intruder persists and an attempt to cut, climb or otherwise break through the fence is detected, the closest luminaire begins to strobe and an alert is sent via a security management system. The intruder knows immediately they have been detected and that their exact location is known by security and others in the vicinity. The Senstar LM100 is now installed at three of the utility company’s sites, with an additional 43 other sites planned.  

The New Bedford Housing Authority (NBHA) in Massachusetts, USA has selected Avigilon video security solutions to help improve safety and reduce crime within its community. With close to 1,750 federal public housing units and 748 state aided units, the NBHA services over 6,000 individuals by providing safe, well-maintained and affordable housing units. New Bedford has faced challenges related to crime, which prompted the NBHA to seek out a security system that delivers actionable results to increase public safety throughout its community. The NBHA has deployed a complete Avigilon solution to monitor 13 of its properties throughout the city. The system includes more than 125 Avigilon cameras and Avigilon Appearance Search™ technology, which is powered by AI to help enable security officers to quickly sort through hours of video with ease to locate a specific person or vehicle of interest across an entire site or multiple sites that are connected to the same Avigilon Control Center™ client software. “Our goal is to provide a safe environment for our residents and deploying an Avigilon system has allowed us to monitor critical areas more efficiently and respond more quickly,” said Steven Beauregard, Executive Director of NBHA, “So far, the results are tangible as we’ve made great strides in improving the safety and security of our communities.” “The NBHA is taking significant action to proactively address crime and other security concerns to help protect what matters most – its residents,” said Ryan Nolan, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations of Avigilon, “By using our AI-powered video security solutions they are able to increase the effectiveness of their security system and provide a new level of public safety.  

NEC Corporation and its Romanian Branch office, part of NEC Eastern Europe, provided a facial recognition system for admission control at the EU Summit held in Sibiu, Romania on May 9, 2019. Romania held the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) for the first time from January to June 2019, and during this period the country was dedicated to strengthening security measures at important domestic events. Leading up to the informal European Union summit, NEC was selected by the Romanian Protection and Guard Service to provide NeoFace, NEC’s facial recognition engine with the world’s No.1 certification accuracy, after intensive testing of various security solutions available on the market. The Protection and Guard Service is a government agency responsible for providing protection for Romanian dignitaries and international representatives during their stay in Romania. During the summit, NEC’s facial recognition system was used to check a pre-registered list of facial images of senior officials against live streams from cameras installed at four gates at the venue. All participants in the program provided informed consent for the use of their images. This was part of a two-step authentication that consisted of facial recognition and the use of QR codes printed on guest invitations, resulting in high speed access to the meeting location, without long lines or burdensome security. This was the first time that biometric certification was used as a security measure at an EU Summit, and participating high-level officials were authorized with high accuracy and speed, thereby contributing to a safe, secure and smooth conference.  

Bosch helps Moscow create a new urban living experience video security and access control It is one of Moscow’s most ambitious building projects – the VTB Arena Park was built on the site of the old Dynamo Stadium and revitalizes the entire surrounding area with a multi-purpose concept. At an estimated cost of US$ 1.5 billion, the modern VTB Arena Park combines sports, entertainment, commercial and residential facilities. A first challenge arises from the sheer size of the project. The football stadium, known as Dynamo Central Stadium and home to FC Dynamo Moscow football club, hosts league matches with a capacity of over 26,000 spectators. The park’s indoor arena holds more than 12,000 guests during ice hockey matches, basketball games and rock concerts, while the 300,000 square-meter park area also offers retail facilities, a five-star hotel and 1,600-car parking garage. Considering the wide range of very different purposes served by these various buildings, it was clear from the project’s inception that a multitude of vendors and providers would be needed to cover all security needs. From the security manager’s perspective, the main challenge was to ensure that these dis parate systems would function together and allowed for central management of a wide array of functions such as access control for tens of thousands of football fans entering the stadium on match days, monitoring the vast perimeter with its park zones, and protecting residential areas against intrusion. VTB Arena Park was looking for a partner able to tackle that key challenge – integration of all parts into one platform – and chose Bosch as its provider of end-to-end video security and access control. Aside from the project’s complex technical ramifications, there was a particular system design challenge. Residents of the Arena Park should feel at home enjoying the highest quality of living, while the area also needs to accommodate for the influx of thousands of visitors within short periods. As the Bosch experts learned, the multi-purpose character of VTB Park leads to an equally wide range of different security needs among its users. Catering to the video security needs, Bosch installed a total of more than 2,000 video cameras, fixed as well as moving cameras, both indoors and outdoors, to safeguard the vast perimeter of the Arena Park premises and secure the homes and offices. One of the camera types installed for perimeter protection is the autodome IP starlight 7000 HD. This high-definition camera offers excellent low-light performance thanks to starlight technology and also features built-in intelligent video analytics. The video analytics function automatically detects deviations from standard moving patterns, like a person entering a restricted area, and triggers an alarm that is sent to the control rooms where security staff can then zoom into a scene for closer investigation. As required by VTB Arena, all 2,000 cameras and connected video storage on Bosch recording units are managed centrally via the Bosch video management system (BVMS). Another particular challenge consisted of aligning the three different access control systems of the stadium running at the same time. The ticketing system is the first layer of access control managing the turnstiles that permit entry of thousands of visitors during events with paper tickets. This access control system needed to integrate with the employee access control system that relies on proximity cards (the access engine provided by Bosch), as well as a third, offline access control system used at specific stadium facilities. As the Bosch experts in Moscow found out, such an integration was without historic precedent. Because no standard solution existed, the team devised a highly customized set-up managed centrally on the Building Integration System (BIS) from Bosch. “We were fully aware that the multifunctional character of the VTB Arena Park would lead to complexity that could hardly be topped. We needed integration power, a partner who knew how to bind all loose ends into one solution that had never existed before. Creating this one integrated security system catering to all the various purposes has made Bosch our main security partner,” said Alexander Kravchenkov, Deputy Head of Security Systems Maintenance Group IT Department at VTB Arena.  

Staff protection is a critical priority for all businesses. But some sectors need to provide their staff with more protection than others. For instance, financial institutions like banks, post offices, and credit unions can be under threat from break-ins and robberies while other areas such as 24-hour fuel stations or factories have staff on premises working throughout the night. Therefore, if a robbery was to occur during these unorthodox working times, it is vital that the alarm can be raised, and help can be provided immediately. Traditionally the method for signaling a threat was a member of staff would trigger a silent alarm that would be reported to police, or staff would enter a unique duress code. These code option and the silent panic/ hold up are available on the SPC system. That said, an often-reported issue with duress codes is that adding a one-to-four-digit number can be challenging to perform when under pressure. Vanderbilt’s SPC However, Vanderbilt’s SPC intrusion system has several features that help protect staff. One such feature is the ‘All okay’ function. Simply put, this is a step that staff can perform to signal everything is ‘okay’ when the SPC system is unset. The nice thing about this is that SPC allows this ‘All okay’ signal to be almost anything. Additionally, you can add multiple elements that will trigger the signal. The SPC system can be configured to have this functionality for specific areas and the time and action can be defined for what will happen if the signal is not given. Any input or zone can be used. SPC: How it works For example, at a bank, if the manager arrives early, he uses his card to gain access to the branch office and PIN to disarm the alarm. His code disarms the office and secure area but the ATMs, vaults, and safe deposit boxes remain armed. A central monitoring station (CMS), is alerted to the early entry. They need to know whether the entry is routine or under duress. The monitoring station views the manager in live video as he executes a predetermined security procedure and until he hits an ‘All Okay’ button. If there is a problem, a silent duress alarm is automatically sent. The monitoring station listens in and if necessary calls the police. The core element here is that it is easy for staff to remember not to perform an action and also more natural.  

The National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) is a social health insurance scheme established by CAP 395 with the main objective of ensuring accessibility of health care services to all Tanzanians. The Fund has managed to expand its coverage to include councillors, private companies, religious and education institutions, private individuals, children under 18 (TOTO Afya) as well as mutual groups, whereby all members can equally access health services in all accredited health facilities. The Fund is also administering the Bunge Health Insurance Scheme, on behalf of the National Assembly. Business scenario and challenges NHIF is a prestigious public institution that serves people all over Dar es Salaam and Tanzania. It has multiple sites spread over these regions. Their current surveillance platform had a few limitations of integrating third party cameras and was not facilitating centralised monitoring for multiple locations. This posed a problem in managing and monitoring all sites from a single location. For this, they needed a surveillance platform that could easily integrate with multi-brand cameras as well as facilitate multi-location monitoring. Moreover, they needed a system with monitoring capacity of over 500 cameras with the facility of remote management for real-time security. Solution offered To the above challenges, Matrix offered SATATYA SAMAS video management system. It is a video surveillance management solution specifically designed to meet the diverse and complex needs of large enterprises having multiple sites connected to a central location, or a large single site. The system was able to integrate with 56 AXIS cameras available at its Headquarters and other 16 cameras available at its district branch offices. All the cameras were managed at single central server located at the NHIF HQ office. Matrix VMS provided real-time security with intelligent video analytics such as motion detection, intrusion detection, trip wire etc. Additionally, vms enabled monitoring and managing video surveillance from mobile phones and tablets remotely by using Matrix mobile application – SATATYA VISION. These features made monitoring much more reliable and easier for them. Project highlights VMS simultaneous user licence – 3 Qty. Mobile App (SATATYA VISION). Intelligent video analytics. Benefits Retention of existing security infrastructure. Reduces storage consumption with cost saving features. Centralized monitoring and management. Real-time security.  

Heavy rain and storms resulting in flooding, have increased significantly in recent years. When large quantities of rainfall in very short periods of time, masses of water overrun sewage capacities in many areas and allow water bodies to rise over their banks, often with destructive force and disastrous effects. Emergency responders on scene, then face the task of coordinating aid and protection measures as efficiently as possible. However, affected areas are often inaccessible, and situations are unwieldy. Real-time data and images from the air, combined when possible with further sensor data on the ground’s condition, for example, would provide emergency responders with valuable information and allow them to intervene where it would be most prudent. Engineers Martin Becker, Simon Batzdorfer and Markus Bobbe of the Institute of Flight Guidance at the Technische Universität Braunschweig (TUBS) and Jan Schattenberg, Hannes Harms and Julian Schmiemann from the Institute for Mobile Machines and Commercial Vehicles, also at TUBS have taken up this topic and developed an automated exploration system. The DLR Space Administration was promoting the engineers’ project with approximately one million euros funding from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, to work on an exploration system in cooperation with AirRobot GmbH & Co. KG from Arnsberg, Germany. Generating aerial recordings in catastrophe-stricken areas such as flood zones, using automated unmanned aircraft plays a meaningful role in the exploration system. Combined with ground-based systems, information regarding the situation in affected areas can be collected to support emergency responders at the affected location. All data collected from aerial and ground units can then be represented within a single map and made available to emergency response personnel. High-resolution aerial images for rapid aid A Manta camera from Allied Vision onboard the drone Hugin delivers images from the air. The project team chose the drone’s name deliberately; in Norse mythology, The Manta camera combines high resolution with low weight, factors that mattered to the system’s developers. Hugin should carry as little additional weight as possible, to minimize the interference on the operation time. Depending on the external conditions, Hugin can remain in the air for up to 30 minutes without recharging. Secure communication via its command link, is guaranteed within a range of a kilometer. Equipped with a control system based on positional data, the drone is able to safely navigate a predefined route, even in challenging environmental conditions and with peak win loads, at up to 12m/s. During the flight, individual images are recorded from altitudes of usually 100 meters, depending on the application. All obtained images are then processed to generate a continuous overview of the entire application area. Due to the automatic exposure adjustment functionality of the camera, even changing light conditions are manageable. Since comprehensive image preprocessing (i.e., image optimization, light correction, white balance, color correction, binning, decimation) takes place within the camera, information-rich two-dimensional images are transmitted to the base station, located on the ground. In addition, a self-developed local communication network is used, which enables targeted information exchange, based upon different communication technologies. During catastrophic events, emergency responders can evaluate the situation better and more quickly with the aid of these images. Since they can see where protective measures must be taken or increased, they can initiate the necessary steps. In case of emergency, system operation must be fast and intuitive. The system determines the flight path based on just a few parameters, so that the emergency services have as little effort as possible to control the drone. The response team leader can easily choose the area to fly over at the system’s ground station. Flight planning then is automatically performed, incorporating all mandatory parameters e.g., opening angle of the lens, to ensure a minimal defined overlap for photogrammetric processing of the obtained images. The drone follows the flight path automatically, and the (live) evaluation of the images is subsequently triggered automatically, too. Within the ground station, the user can specify the actually piloted drone and to select data streams, which are then provided in real time including aerial imaginary or other sensor data. Successful tests in practice The Stadtentwässerung Braunschweig GmbH was confronted with serious flooding in the summer of 2017 and urgently needed information on current water levels near the Okerriver’s course through the city. They requested help from the TU Braunschweig via an existing contact at the Braunschweig fire department. One particularly endangered area (from the Eisenbütteler Wehr to the Volkswagen Halle) was surveilled and documented in a variety of aerial images. The Stadtentwässerung thus gained knowledge not just about how the flooding had spread, but could also retrace whether protective measures undertaken during the prior flooding in 1994 were now successfully taking hold. Based on the images, important decisions could be made, and questions answered such as – must warnings be issued, are closures required, at which locations are sandbags necessary, and via which routes are these regions even accessible? In the future, the Braunschweig Stadtentwässerung would also like to take advantage of the Braunschweig TU system for long-term observation of flood protection measures and to review prognosis models. In another application case, the Braunschweig TU research team successfully tested Hugin in the field of coastal protection. On the East Frisian island of Langeoog in the southern North Sea, a flyover produced revealing aerial images of dunes and dykes. One item that drew particular attention was a beach nourishment taking place at the time. During one flushing procedure, numerous aerial images were made of the location that clearly demonstrated to local coastal protection authorities just how close the tide came to the dunes in the still unfinished area of the beach nourishment, and in the same moment, how far the surge was removed from the dunes when the beach level had been raised by additional sand. The TU Braunschweig engineers are already considering other applications and further constraints. Thus, the drone can be equipped with a thermal imaging camera, for example, to be able to find injured persons in the dark.  

Recently a truck crashed into a Delta Scientific DSC600 bollard protecting the Old Capitol ground in Tallahassee. The vehicle went no further than the bollard itself, stuck on top so well that it took two other trucks to remove it. The driver survived. “DSC600 bollards protect the Capitol grounds and their aesthetics with K-12 defense that meets or exceeds U.S. Department of State and Department of Defense certifications,” affirmed Greg Hamm, Delta Scientific Vice President of Marketing and Sales, “With the DSC600 crash rated bollard modules, facilities surrounded by streets, abutting sidewalks and set back on lawns such as many state capitals, other government structures, stadiums, theaters and commercial buildings, can now be effectively protected.” With a foundation only 14 inches (35.5 cm) deep versus the four feet (1.2 m) typically required, Delta’s DSC600 shallow foundation high security bollards can be installed within sidewalks, on top of concrete deck truss bridges or in planters. They can also conform to varying inclines and turns of a locale. The new 2-bollard modules, which can be arrayed in whatever length is required, will stop and destroy a 15,000 pound (66.7kN) truck traveling 50 miles per hour (80kph).